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War of the White Cloaks
The War of the Whiten Cloaks was a brutal war during the reign of King Jahaerys II Targaryen and ending early in the reign of King Aerys II Targaryen. When the current Kingsguard, except for Ser Gerold Hightower, viewed the current king as a weak disgrace to serve, they defected from the Targaryens and started creating a great force of protestors to the King's appointment. When King Jahaerys declared war on them, the 'False Kingsguard' named themselves as lords but, after six years of conflict, they were vanquished. History Background When King Aegon V Targaryen perished during the fires of Summerhall, he was succeeded by his second son King Jahaerys Targaryen. After winning the War of the Ninepenny Kings, it became surprisingly clear that, though Jaehaerys opted to take credit for the final victory against the Blackfyre Pretenders, the victory was more down to his warriors than Jaehaerys himself. Sickened by having to serve such a weak king, most of the Kingsguard became rebellious - namely Ser Kevan Dayne, Ser Joseph Toyne, Ser Tywin Hightower, Ser Waymar Whent and the brothers Ser Arstan and Drake Rosby. These knights were currently under the command of Ser Gerold Hightower the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and one of them was even Ser Gerold's older brother. During one meeting of the Kingsguard, these knights opposed Ser Gerold's decision to continue serving their king, as per their vows. This led to a vicious argument between Gerold and Tywin, and Tywin arrogantly considered himself to be the wiser of the two due to his age. Ser Gerold, sickened by his brother's conceit and dishonour and the fact that the majority of the Kingsguard were considering abandoning their king, Ser Gerold went to Jaehaerys with this news and the King ordered their arrest for treason and the ultimate aim of sedition. The Kingsguard left, with Ser Kevan Dayne naming himself a lord of Starfall to oppose Jaehaerys, but they eventually became known as the 'False Kingsguard', or simply as traitors. In their place, Ser Gerold appointed Ser Barristan Selmy, who had heroically slain Maelys Blackfyre in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, to the Kingsguard and set about searching for replacements. War The war opened at Harrenhal, where the False Kingsguard set themselves up as Lords of Harrenhal. The royalists attacked them and the Battle of Harrenhal commenced. During the battle, Ser Kevan, Ser Drake and Ser Waymar alone managed to decimate a considerable amount of the royalist army. Ser Gerold led his new Kingsguard - Barristan Selmy, Frank Umber, Oswell Whent and Meryn Corbray - against them, and lost Frank Umber to the morningstar of Ser Kevan Dayne. The battle ended with the royalists losing, but the False Kingsguard forced to leave Harrenhal. After retreating, King Jaehaerys named any man who joined the opposition as traitors to the crown, but this act only hardened people's disdain of him. After a disastrous battle at Starfall, even the hill tribes sided with the False Kingsguard. During the next battle of Blackhaven, 'Lord' Kevan Dayne fought against Ser Barristan Selmy and was eventually decapitated in the duel, though he wounded Ser Barristan enough that he had to refrain from entering the remainder of the battle and the one that followed. Ser Gerold continued to fight and lost Meryn Corbray when he tried to face Ser Tywin and Ser Arstan. After this loss, Ser Barristan remembers Ser Gerold being humiliatingly accosted by his king for his failure. Ser Gerold opted to start winning on a strategic front and, during the second Battle of the Saltpans they had their first victory, during which Ser Waymar Whent was crushed under the hooves of a horse and Drake Rosby was struck down from his horse by Ser Oswell Whent. At the same time, though, King Jaehaerys died and was succeeded by his son Aerys, the Second of His Name. Under Aerys, Ser Gerold led his armies into victory at Ghost Hill, after a six-month campaign there with Ser Tywin. This was then followed by a vicious clash at Starfall, where a twelve-year-old squire named Ser Arthur Dayne saved Ser Gerold from several enemy warriors, impressing the White Bull by striking them down with only a short sword in hand. For this, Ser Arthur Dayne was presented with the ancestral Dayne greatsword Dawn and was even appointed to the Kingsguard, both of which earning him the title of the Sword of the Morning. In the climax of the Battle of Starfall, the False Kingsguard were forced from Dorne entirely. A warmongering King Aerys pressured Ser Gerold became anxious that the False Kingsguard were defying his reign (Even though they were only his father's) and pressured Ser Gerold into ruthlessness to end the war and, for the next two years, he campaigned for Hightower itself when the False Kingsguard attacked it. After the Battle of Hightower spent several months in a stalemate, King Aerys dispatched the entirety of the Kingsguard to end the battle and lost two hundred men in the process. This decimated the morale of the royalist soldiers, but Ser Gerold famously delivered a ferociously rousing speech to his men that spurred them into fearless loyalty to him. The final battle of the war took place on the Kingsroad itself after two weeks of manoeuvring around it. During the battle, Ser Gerold finally faced Ser Tywin Hightower, his brother, in battle and both Ser Gerold and Ser Barristan fought Ser Tywin in a duel - Ser Barristan was wounded again, but he deprived Ser Tywin of his spear and forced him to use his sword against the White Bull, who finally managed to defeat him with a savage downwards cut into his collar. With his last breath, Ser Tywin snarled at his sibling for betraying his brother, but Ser Gerold replied that he had no brothers but the men in white cloaks. In killing Ser Tywin Hightower, Ser Gerold had personally ended the war. Any of the surviving False Kingsguard were hunted down and executed. This was viewed as on par with the War of the Ninepenny Kings as one of the most destructive conflicts in the last fifty-odd years, up until the shorter, but far more devastating War of the Usurper. Category:Events